The Car That Watches You Back: The Advertising Infrastructure of Modern Cars

Scope of Concern: Tracking and Ads in Modern Cars

• Many see cellular modems + dashboards as an ad-tech platform, mirroring web tracking but without meaningful consent.
• People resent paying high prices and long loans yet still being “the product.”
• Some note even radio metadata is being used for in-car ads.

Privacy, Consent, and Legal Boilerplate

• Frustration that car makers use broad privacy policies (“we reserve the right to do everything”) that allow extensive data use.
• One side criticizes a high-profile car privacy report as low quality and overly alarmist; the other says, even if so, it usefully pressures manufacturers to narrow their legal claims.
• Debate over EU/UK: one commenter asserts GDPR prevents non-consensual tracking; others don’t directly confirm, but note mandatory eCall units.

What Cars Don’t Track (or Track Less)?

• Many think the only safe option is older cars (90s–mid-2010s), often citing 90s Toyotas/Hondas and early-2010s models as a “golden era” with useful safety tech but no always-on connectivity.
• Some argue fully disconnected new cars “don’t exist,” others counter with:
  • Work trucks and some models where the modem can be unplugged or a fuse pulled.
  • Cars whose connectivity breaks few or no critical features when disabled.
  • Motorcycles as a largely untracked category, with caveats (safety, weather).

DIY Mitigations and Hacks

• Reported tactics: pulling modem fuses, unplugging telematics units, replacing antennas with resistors, disconnecting GPS modules, or building harnesses to preserve non-tracking features.
• Trade-offs include loss of OTA updates, remote start, emergency calling, built-in navigation, or microphones.
• Some note that CarPlay/Android Auto can still leak data via the phone’s connection, even if the car’s modem is removed.

Hopes for Alternatives and Regulation

• Interest in “bare-bones” EVs and startups promising minimalism; skepticism that “stripped down” implies privacy.
• Suggestions for:
  • A marketplace or guide for “least enshittified” cars.
  • Stronger disclosure rules for surveillance features, akin to warning labels.
• Some hope rising car enshittification nudges more people toward bikes, public transport, or custom/conversion builds.